A few times a year I receive an email or call from a small business owner whose website which was designed by someone else has failed. Usually, they find me by asking friends and colleagues for recommendations. The ‘symptoms’ of the website are things like:
- “I can no longer log in to change something on the site.”
- The site is showing something wierd on the home page that is unrelated.
- “There is wierd code (or a fatal error message) at the top of my page.”
- “The guy who created the site is impossible to get hold of or isn’t available and I need to change something.”
- “My domain name expired and someone else has it now. Can they do that?”
- I lost my password and can’t get in to change something I need to change.
- “My website was hacked. How do I fix it?”
What I do from there is look at it together with them over the phone or zoom and then tell them what the possibile issues are causing their particular issue. Then we talk about what can be done. I always give frank advice so that they have the full information to make the best decision for their business. If I will need to investigate further in order to tell them what is wrong, I give them an estimate for how much billable time that investigation will take, and then bill them a retainer for that amount. If I am pretty sure I know what it is, I give an estimate for that and then bill the retainer for that. I don’t exceed the retainer without checking in with them first.
And then I fix it, or build them a replacement.
If their website is completely gone and they need a replacement website fast, I usually offer my Bare Bones package site to start, which gives the business owner a lot of control over costs, the ability to get something functional, secure and good quality right away, and then to enhance it over time as available time and budget allows. It is completely reasonable and possible to stage website development starting with the most mission-critical items, then adding enhancements in later stages. Once I get it up and running again, I always recommend they hire me to do technical oversight, so I can prevent the site from going down again.
If you’ve had a mishap with your site, or have an old site that has seen better days, get in touch. I can help. I’m reachable Monday to Friday, 10am-6pm PST.
